Tony Emumwen, the technical coordinator of the Nestle Milo School Basketball Championship, shared insights about the tournament and expectations for the finals in an interview with Sports 247 on Wednesday after the game between the female basketball teams of Delta and Niger State.
Emumwen shared that this is the 24th edition of the Nestle Milo School Basketball Championship, which began in 1999 and has only missed one edition during the coronavirus era.
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He noted the event’s growth and consistency, with plans already in place for next year’s Silver Jubilee.
This year’s edition commenced with the Northern Conference in Abuja from May 12th to 21st, followed by the Southern Conference in Ibadan from May 22nd to 28th.
The top three teams from each conference, both male and female, advanced to the finals in Lagos, resulting in six male and six female teams competing for the prestigious trophy.
Emumwen expressed satisfaction with the performance of the teams, particularly pointing out the intense rivalry between Delta and Lagos, who will face each other in the finals.
Each team has won once against the other in the current competition, making the final match highly anticipated and decisive.
He praised Milo for its role in grassroots basketball development, noting that the championship has produced several notable players, referees, and match commissioners who have gone on to achieve success at national and international levels.
This includes a one-handed basketball player, and Joy, a FIBA referee who started her career in this championship.
“We must commend Milo. Let me tell you the truth. In this country today, the only grassroots basketball competition is the Milo basketball championship. This competition is what is supplying basketball players in the country.
There are a lot of young people who have played in the Milo basketball championship that have gone on to become referees, and match commissioners and some are playing professional basketball abroad. So I think it has been a very rewarding experience.”
Emumwen noted that the competition is unpredictable due to the high standards of the participating teams.
The finals on Friday will conclude with the winning teams receiving trophies, 1 million Naira, Milo products, and branded basketballs.
The second and third-place teams will also receive monetary rewards, products, and branded balls, with prizes extending to the fifth place, aligning with Milo’s slogan, “Everybody is a winner.”
